BATON ROUGE — One week after posting a season-high 196.575 at Kentucky, the 10th-ranked LSU gymnastics squad will travel to Auburn, Ala., to take on sixth-ranked Auburn at 7 p.m. CST Friday in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
LSU (6-1, 1-1 SEC) is coming off a solid performance at Kentucky that saw the Tigers post season highs in three events ? bars, beam and floor ? despite being shorthanded. Last Friday Auburn (2-2, 0-1) defeated No. 18 Iowa State in Auburn, 196.275-195.225, and the Tigers have a season average of 196.137.
“I expect us to compete with intensity. I expect us to approach this meet like we approached our competition against Georgia and at Kentucky,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “I expect that based on the scores we are seeing and the consistency that Auburn is turning in, this will be a tough competition.”
LSU will have the services of junior Sabrina Franceschelli who returned to practice this week after missing the meet against Kentucky with the flu. Even without Franceschelli, LSU improved its season highs across the board except for vault which held steady at 49.175.
Heading into the meet at Auburn, LSU has been led by consistent performances by senior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and junior Susan Jackson. Against Kentucky, Clare-Kearney posted a 39.600 all-around score and Jackson tallied a 39.375. Both Clare-Kearney and Jackson scored a 9.90 on floor, and Clare-Kearney added a 9.90 on vault and a season-high 9.925 on bars. Junior Summer Hubbard scored a career-high 9.90 on beam to win the event title.
Like LSU, Auburn has been paced all season by two gymnasts ? seniors A.J. Mills and Lindsey Puckett. Mills has recorded season highs of 9.850 on vault, 9.90 on bars, 9.925 on beam and 9.90 on floor with a 39.500 all-around. Puckett has been equally as impressive with a 9.90 on vault, 9.825 on bars, 9.975 on beam, 9.90 on floor and a 39.525 all-around.
As a team Auburn ranks third nationally on floor with a 49.144 average, sixth on beam (49.044), eighth on bars (48.956) and 10th on vault (48.994).
“They are a very much-improved team and have done a great job recruiting because they are getting a lot of scores from freshmen but also getting some good upper-class leadership,” Breaux said. “At the same time, if our best kids give us their best scores and the rest of the line-up builds to the end, we are a very competitive team. If our best team shows up, Auburn will have their hands full.”
LSU has dominated the all-time series with Auburn as LSU leads the series 58-10 with a 10-3 mark in Auburn. The last meeting came at the SEC Championships in 2008 when LSU outscored Auburn, 196.250-196.100.
LSU fans can listen to the meet for free in the Geaux Zone and follow along with the live stats at www.LSUsports.net.